Revenge A Mergana Story

Liar, Liar

Merlin and Morgana were sat on a log in the woods. Merlin had been listening intently to Morgana's every word as she told her story.

Not everything Morgana had said was a lie, everything from after she had died and before she had woken up was true. She really had seen a woman like that, but she just wrote it off as a poison induced dream. Nightmare really.

She finished her story and waited for Merlin to respond, but he just sat there with his chin in the palm of his hand looking out into the forest. She didn't say anything, though, she just waited. She had practiced that story hundreds of time. It's what she was planning to tell Arthur when he asked her where she had been.

"There's just one thing I don't understand, Morgana," Merlin began. "You have magic, why didn't you use that to get food or escape the bandits," He looked up at her now

Morgana had completely forgotten that Merlin knew of her magic. She had been so busy worrying about Arthur she forgot about his lapdog, luckily she was good at thinking on her feet, "Ever since I died, I can't use magic anymore. I don't know why. Believe me I've tried. I guess you really did kill that part of me,"

Merlin winced when she said kill. Morgana noticed and smiled, "Really, Merlin. I'm not angry with you. You were just trying to save Camelot. I understand. It was for the greater good,"

Merlin paled at her words. "The greater good" That's exactly what he used to tell himself. He was certain Morgana was lying about losing her magic, but surely, she couldn't read minds, could she?

"I'm really sorry for everything you've been through, and I'm even more sorry that I was the one that forced you to endure all of this," Merlin reached out and held Morgana's hand in his. It was ice cold.

He furrowed his brow, "Hmm"

Morgana looked down at their hands and then back at him, "What? What is it?" She asked

"Nothing, it's just. We used to sit out on the castle grounds, just like this, and I used to take your hand, just like this, and it was always so warm, it's like ice today,"

Morgana snatched her hand back, "Well, Merlin, incase you haven't noticed it's freezing out," She reached into her basket and pulled out her gloves. She put them on carefully, and then stood up, "Come on then, are we going to pick some herbs or what?"

Merlin smiled and took Morgana deeper into the forest. He described the kinds of plants they needed. She asked lots of questions like what each plant was called and what it did. It was almost like old times again. They walked deeper and deeper into the forest without realizing it.

"Merlin, is this Valerian?" Morgana walked towards Merlin with a purple flower in hand.

Merlin laughed when he saw it, "No, Morgana, that's lavender"

"Damn it," Morgana swore "All these plants look the same to me,"

Merlin laughed again, "Now I know why you struggled so much when you were gone, you really don't know anything about plants do you?"

Morgana mockingly pouted and playfully hit Merlin's arm.

"It's alright though, lavender is very useful. I already have a lot, but I guess you can never have too much,"

"What's lavender do?" Morgana asked like she had with practically every plant they came across.

"Lavender is good of stress and can be very calming in addition to that it's oils can be used to repel bugs," Merlin explained.

"Wow! look at you, Merlin. Gaius trained you very well," Morgana beamed.

At the mention of Gaius Merlin's eyes began to sting. He turned away from Morgana and looked out into the water. They were standing right next to a pond.

As Merlin looked towards the pond, he noticed something he had never seen before in Camelot's forest.

"Morgana, do you see that cottage over there?" He asked her and motioned towards it.

Morgana looked over, "I do, that's strange isn't it? It's dangerous to live this deep into the forest"

"I've never noticed it before. I come down here all the time, and this is the first I'm seeing it. Do you think someone lives there?" He asked.

"Probably not anyone we want to associate with,"

*BONG BONG BONG*

"Is that the evening bell?" Merlin asked finally tearing his eyes away from the cottage.

"I think it is, I hadn't realized we had been out so long. We better get back soon, or Arthur will have both our heads," Morgana said

"I'd like to see him try," Merlin joked. Morgana laughed and took his hand.

That cottage Merlin had pointed out was Morgana's own cottage, where she had killed Morgause. She really had not realized how far she and Merlin had walked into the forest but ending up near the cottage was no accident. Merlin had shown up to the forest hours before Morgana and had found it himself. He found Morgause's bones and deduced what had happened. He wanted to see Morgana's response when she saw it again. She was good though, he couldn't figure out anything from her reaction.

They walked together all the way back to the castle under the burnt orange sky. Two liars' hand in hand, each one thinking they had deceived the other.